Monday, October 13, 2008

They appear to be completely fine. They've got some scratches and bruises but it's hard to sort out what's a result of the accident and what's just their normal self inflicted can-I-stick-my-toenail-in-here injuries. But really, they're fine.

Long story short, we were jogging (stupid ipod) along the sidewalk. A girl came out of one of the restaurant driveways. She was on the phone. She wasn't looking. She hit us. The stroller flew out of my hands and ended up upside down in the street.

Then I kind of went bananas. Maybe you were in the outfield stands at Ranger Stadium in about 1992? When security came? And someone suggested I be shot with a tranquilizer? It was like that but with more cursing.

Once I flipped them over and picked them up I really had no idea what the protocal was. I can tell you that screaming OH MY GOD! ARE YOU OKAY!!! at crying children does not calm them down. At all.

Did I mention that this all happened right in front of a restaurant patio? So, there were like 40 people instantly on the scene, helping, calling Amy, encouraging me to try holding the babies instead of yelling at them. All of those things worked much better than my scream therapy plan.

Bottom line, by the time the police and firetrucks got there the babies were smiling and laughing at various people in the crowd. The EMT's recognized Amy from the hospital and were happy to accept her diagnosis that the babies were going to be fine (I suggest you marry a doctor if you haven't already). She says we just need to watch out for mood swings, vomiting, and bouts of lethergy. That kind of describes a typical day with the babies, so I'm not sure what I'm looking for, but I'll keep my eyes open.

Oddly, the person taking it hardest was the girl who hit us. Once the babies were pronounced fine by doctor mom I pretty much forgot all about her and having attacked her vehicle. But it turns out that she's also a new mom with a six month old of her own, and that she was on her cell phone arguing with her boyfriend, and she just hadn't looked up. She just kept saying, I'm sorry, that could have been my baby. I think that starting tomorrow she's going to be the world's best driver.

4 comments:

Kyle, I never know if your stories are true until I get to the end. I never know if you are going to pop in a "Just kidding. I made this all up" at the end. Sorry to say that I didn't see that on this one. Glad that everyone is ok.

Goodness, that's truly scary. I'm glad they are ok as well. As one of the lucky ones that got to experience the Rangers incident (one of my top 3 birthday moments of all time)... well, even I would have had a similar freakout in such a situation, particularly with my pent-up hatred of cell phones as it is. I think I would rather everyone drive around with evangelical CB radios blasting from their vehicles than driving around using those things.

Austin is a unique place, but as a driver a few months ago on that early Sunday morning I felt like I was going to hit a biker/jogger on every block. Granted, there was a triathlon or whatever going on... but my genuine nervousness made me question my obligatory planner ethic about "complete streets" and multimodal transportation networks.

just started reading your blog and it's very good. Contrary to what you wrote, you are not a hack! I have forwarded your blog to many of my friends and family and they always read it with a smile. Thanks for taking the time to write about your day.

Kyle Killen...

... writes fiction and other nonsense. His work has appeared in Mcsweeney's, Salon.com, The Mid-American Review, The Berkley Fiction Review, The Black Warrior Review, and numerous other places ending in the word Review. He previously wrote letters to gestating children and even won an award once.

He now lives with a large number of women and cats, which is exactly as hip and exciting as you think it sounds.